My Brown Eyed Boy

5 years since this little boy has been here. He has been so excited about his birthday. Earlier this week, we went to the beach, and had his 'beach birthday' celebration. Grandma brought slurpees (frozen kool-aid), and 2 big cookies for his big day. I brought a box of Airheads, which is a treat, because they love them and I don't get them very often. So, we handed out Airheads to any kid that wanted them, all they had to do was say happy birthday to Charlie. Charlie's favorite part every year is when they sing Happy Birthday to him. It was especially special for him when they sang "happy birthday cha-cha-cha-charlie" He was in heavenCharlie was so happy. Here is a picture of him and brother and cousing eating the cherished icees......

Now the next ones aren't much of a surprise...it is something we have expected would happen eventually.......

By the looks of this picture, it seems that Curtis is about to get cuffed by the Sheriff! Then it looks like George is blaming it on Ashlee.....

Luckily, none of the Cuillards were arrested. Some teenagers were busted with alcohol. So, of course, George walked to them and yelled "busted"! Isn't he sweet?

So, I have discovered 5 is too old to take the kid with you to pick out his presents, and buy them without him knowing. He caught me getting everything. I was too lazy to come back to the store and get it later. Anyways, everytime he opened a present, he said, "You said you put this back! You didn't"

He is a typical 5 year old boy....goofball!!Earlier this week I asked Charlie what he wanted for his birthday meals. He said "ice cream for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch, and Pizzatopia for dinner" SOOOO,

KC was the first one to get to the ice cream It's too bad Charlie wasn't having any fun :(
His day was complete with his dinner at Pizzatopia! He made cupcakes with me, and said that was one of his most favorite parts of the day. I love 5 year olds! Charlie is a unique child. He never, ever stops talking. I am afraid he might not hear well, because he does not know how to speak in a normal voice. He screams everything. He is very straighforward and tells it as it is. Charlie adds a lot of action in our house. I love my little Charlie Brown Eyes!

Getting Desperate

I love summer, I love not having to rush from place to place, I love the warm weather, I love vacations, etc., etc.......BUT I could really do without the non-stop fighting. It is out of control. I feel that I have been a complete failure as a mother. I don't mean to be such a complainer, but it has NEVER been this bad. I feel that I am constantly yelling at one kid or another. My 17 year old niece, Ashlee, is staying with us, and I am convinced that after staying with us she will be going home really appreciating her own family! Poor girl, I don't know how she can deal with us! Anyways, the part that is overwhelming is the tattling. The kids tattle when someone does something not to them, but to another kid. So, someone gave me the idea that everytime they are about to tattle, instead of telling me, to write it down. This morning I woke up to it....the yelling, the teasing, the chasing, the broken glass! I had had it. We went to the store and bought what we call "tattle journals". Our first day has not been exactly successful. Poor Charlie, who is one of the worst tattlers can't write yet. Luckily, Ashlee was his scribe and helped him out. George would freak out anytime anyone wrote anything about him. It was just one of those days....again! I admit it, I threw a tantrum and FREAKED out. Not a proud moment, but it is a quick fix for when I am at my whits end.....I think it scares the kids a little bit. At least it got Curtis to ask what he could do to help me out. Luckily I had to teach a Turbo Kick class and then train a client. It gave me time to recover a bit. I finally got home around 8:30. I announce to Scott that I needed to take a short break as a mother, and he got to do kid duty tonight! After showering and eating, I finally sat down. The boys brought me their journals. I've always had a good idea of how these kids treat one another, but now I have written proof. George is not the easiest sibling to get along with, but I don't blame him when his two older brothers gang up on him. They are mean! So, I started reading their "tattle journals". Curtis's consisted mostly of George doing things to Charlie....only one thing George did to him. James's was the exact same. So, the rule is, you only write about offenses against you! The best was when I opened George's journal and it started with, "James is writing lies about me in his journal" . Poor George. I'm discovering that George is a very smart kid. I am also finding out that George freaks out a lot due to his older brothers's torture tactics. I don't know how great these "tattle journals" will be, but it at least gave me a good laugh at the end of a stressful day!

It's Almost Over!

I feel like we are on a short break from school rather than summer break! Tomorrow is the day I dread every summer.....the first official day of football practice. Now, every Monday through Friday I have to get James to practice by 5:30. 5:30 is my favorite time of the day at the beach, and it is going to kill me to have to leave early. Oh well, if these are the problems I have, I will glady accept them. July is one of the best months ever, and it has come and gone super quick this year. I love, love, love the 4th of July. Usually because it is hot, you eat good bbq, and then we spend the night with good friends and family and watch the fireworks.

Steve, Melissa and family, Robbie, Jimmy and Liz

I love the beach, and have had some great beach days this last month......

Charlie was really upset that he got his head shoved in the sand, and then I told him he looked like "Two Face" from Dark Knight, and then he was stoked!I think all of my kids are in this picture, and 2 of them are hiding from the camera. I am not sure who some of the other kids are, but the kids have a blast hanging out with everyone!

On July 8th, my brother and his wife had their first child. A little girl named, Davie Malone Helfman. She sounds like an Irish little thing, but she is a Jewish/Mormon. Should be an interesting combo.

I've never claimed to be normal. This next picture cracks me up. This is genetic proof that I had no hope! My niece, Hanna, and I were taking self portraits.......I'm a bit self centered, so I didn't even notice my mother, who is masked in the background. She looks like a crazy lady with her mask and sunglasses....almost Michael Jacksoness! Then, I noticed my dad right inbetween mine and Hanna's heads. He is such a dork......now I know where my kids (and I) get it from!

We were lucky to get away for a week and take the boat up to Lake Havasu. It turns out they were having a "heat wave". It was 120 almost every day.

It was so relaxing to just float around in the lake. The boys were super impressed by my floating skills. They have no body fat, so they sunk like rocks.....I on the other had, can float forever! Now that is talent :)

Everytime I would try to get some quiet time, they would swarm around me. I actually appreciated that they wanted to be with me!

Aren't these next ones sweet?

By the looks of it, you would never tell that they were fighting NONSTOP!!!

George got up on the wakeboard!

Curtis and James love to fly across the wake

This same day, I started throwing up at about 5 pm, and didn't stop until 1 am. James and Scott were the only ones that did not get hit by this horrible, violent, stomach flu. BUT, Scott did pull 3 all-nighters, dealing with the sick ones. Two of them were back to back. We were all so tired, and not feeling super great......not super fun when it is so stinkin hot outside!

Here is George recovering on the boat..."the day after"

Here are some adorable pictures of the boys pouting.....

BUT, they can also be REALLY cute....at least I think so!OK, so this one isn't so cute, but makes me giggle. It is almost impossible to keep a diaper on this kid.....at least he would wear the life vest....you gotta pick your battles!

A couple of the days we beached right by this cliff, and all of the boys, except for KC, had so much fun jumping off of it This next one is not too bad for an old man......We may have had a lot of arguing, tantrums, and vomitting, BUT, I considered it a very successful vacation. Everyone came home in one piece, and I am so happy to say, we didn't have to go to the ER one time!

July is almost over :( We still have the beach, and hopefully a couple of days out on the boat. My niece, Ashlee, is staying with us for a week and a half! She is so sweet, and I love having her around. Lets hope August is as fun as July!

Undecided

Is he adorable, or a complete terror? I am not quite sure how I should feel about him. I find myself thinking he is super cute, but maybe it's because he is my baby! He has been a constant challenge. He is by far, our worst sleeper. None of our other kids would ever come in our bed in the middle of the night.....KC is almost 2 1/2, and he STILL does! He'll be rotten, and then totally cute. For example, today, he bit George on the stomach (here I am making excuses for him, but he was overtired) he apologized, gave George a hug, and then I put him down for a nap. As soon as he came down from his nap, he found George, went up to him, pulled up his shirt, gave him a kiss on his tummy, and said in his super cute little voice, "I kiss your tummy, now it's all better!" He is rotten and cute all in the same situation. KC has kept me the busiest out of all of the kids. I was not going to share one of my worst Loser Mom experiences, but I will.....just to make you all feel better about your parenting skills. I lost KC at the beach yesterday. Yes, lost him. I lost him once last summer, but it wasn't as scary, because I found him pretty quickly. This time, it took a while. By the way, I have never lost any of my other children! So, I thought KC was playing with a little friend, and realized he wasn't with her anymore. My sister took off up the beach, and I went in the other direction. He went all the way down to the other lifeguard station, and 3 ladies noticed him running down the beach without anybody with him. Thank goodness for these women. They even gave him a gatorade not knowing the last time he had a drink. So, if you have ever seen KC at the beach, he is nasty. This time he was extra nasty, because not only was he covered in sand, but he had snot running out of his nose, and was wearing only a swim diaper. (I usually keep him in a rash guard so I can find him easily, but he took it off). Anyways, he looked pretty pathetic! Luckily, they were super nice and didn't judge me like a lot of people would. I really appreciated them! The whole situation made my sister cry, and poor Pam thought I was going to get taken away by the police for parental negligence. I could be blamed for this, but I am blaming some of it on KC too, because he is fearless and I don't think he would be scared touring the beach by himself, no matter how long it would be! He has no fear. Anyways, despite the scare he put in me, all I could do was hug him. That night, I laid in bed next to him for quite a while. I was just grateful he was with me, and I couldn't stop snuggling with him! So, he is a total tyrant, but I am madly in love with him.

All of my boys have sweet tendencies, and I really appreciate that in them. James has a harder time showing it than the others, but he does. James went to his first week long boy scout camp. He called everyday, and confessed he was homesick. He never regretted going, and said he had a great time. The second day he was there a rat crawled into his duffle bag. He went in his bag to get out a shirt and saw something move. He got his leaders, and they discovered a rat in his bag. Not only a rat, but a rat that birthed 5 babies in his bag. I am pretty sure it freaked him out, but it's a great story to tell for his first scout adventure. He got home on a Saturday afternoon. I was napping upstairs, and he came home and gave me a kiss on my cheek. It was a great way to wake up. I missed him a lot, and while he was gone, I realized he is not the one that causes a lot of the trouble around here, and does so much to help me out. James is and always has been a hard worker. Later that day, I knocked him down and tortured him with a kiss attack. He acts like he hates them, but I am pretty sure he secretly loves em!

Boys are sweet, even when they are rotten! But, I love them all....even during the rotten times.

Everytime

Some things make me laugh out loud every single time I think of it. This is one of those things. My kids would kill me if they saw this post, but they crack me up. When I first saw these pictures I told them they looked like they all belonged in a "special" baseball league. They didn't think I was funny. James's picture was actually very handsome, so I posted his from 2002. It must be a genetic thing........I hope you find it as entertaining as I do......

Here is James's transformation several years later. He is very handsome, and I am grateful he wears his hat a little bit better nowadays.

Names

I still don't have a clear understanding of why my parents named me "Kaye". I have a lot of unanswered questions. There are a lot of holes in their story, which has always made me think I was adopted. My mother has no pictures of herself pregnant with me....if I didn't look exactly like her, adoption would not be a surprise. Anyways, this is, according to my mother, how I was named. Let me start this story by saying, when you are pregnant, you have a bit of time to figure out what you are going to name the baby. Apparently, my parents didn't think much about it. During her pregnancy, she had told a neighbor that she wanted to name me Ann, but she seemed to forget this when I was born. Who does that? The neighbor asked her why she didn't name me Ann, and my mom said, "Oh, I forgot". Anyways, my grandmother's manicurist was named Kay, and my mom liked it. So, there you go. I am still not clear as to why she insisted on putting an "e" at the end of my name. I am pretty sure it was to just torture me, knowing that most people spell it without the e. Kaye is not exactly a long name.....I know she didn't want anything with more than 4 letters, because it would be hard to learn to write my name. I don't think she had much confidence in my intelligence, even then. I don't have a middle name. It turns out Kaye must have pushed my parents over the edge, so they didn't go any further. I think that is hilarious! When I was about 16, my mom realized she wanted to give me a middle name.....Margaret, my grandmother's name. I told her she was a few years too late, but she thought she'd give me a middle name and put it on my journals, even my high school diploma. I think I might get some of my craziness from her. See how this naming doesn't really make sense? Anyways, that is how I got my name. I've actually had a lot of fun with it. When I worked in a restaurant, the Spanish speaking busboy asked my name....I told him K, and he kept asking me the same question, but louder. In Spanish, K or que means what.....I am pretty sure he thought I had a hearing problem...he didn't realize I was just telling him my name. When I was in junior high, I ran into an old elementary school teacher of mine. She couldn't remember my name, so she asked me to give her the first initial....I told her. She continued with Katherine? Kate? It went on for a while, she didn't figure it out. One night my dad and I were watching a show, and Elle McPherson was on it. My dad actually said out loud, "Who would name their kid a letter?" He was totally serious.....I looked at him and said, "Dad, you have got to be kidding me!" We still laugh about that one. My name is fine, and it will totally fit me in about 50 years!

Scott Russel Cuillard. I am not sure why he was named that. I do know his Grandfather's name is Russel (with one L) I will have to ask Donna the story behind his name.

James Scott Cuillard. I LOVE the name James. I have loved that name since I was 12 years old. I knew when I was a young girl that I would name my son James. Little did I know that my biggest obstacle naming my son James would be my dear husband. He really fought me against it. The story I am about to tell you doesn't make me look like the nicest person in the world, but it was worth it! So, we found out we were having a boy. Scott and I were thrilled! I knew instantly what his name was....James Scott Cuillard. Scott on the other hand wasn't convinced. He has a brother named James, but he goes by Jimmy. But, this was the name I LOVED....the name I had been waiting for. Scott liked other names.....when I say liked other names, I mean about 10 other names that were ok. He claims I am not so good at compromising, and I admit when it came to this I wasn't. I asked him to give me one name he absolutely loved? He couldn't. During the pregnancy, this is what we fought about. Many times the conversation brought me to tears....why was he being such a butthead about it? Anyways, this is how it went down......I gave birth to my perfect little baby 10:36 pm December 23rd 1996. This little baby did not have a name yet. The next day while Scott was picking up and setting up my Christmas gift for me, I was in the hospital with my little baby. The nurse came in and asked me to fill out the birth certificate form. I told her my husband was gone and we hadn't agreed on a name yet. Being a new mom, and very young, she told me I really needed it signed now.....I believed her, so after going through pregnancy, getting stretch marks, and giving birth, I took the privilege of filling out his name.....James Scott Cuillard! I know what you are thinking, how terrible, right? Nope.....I didn't feel bad then, and I don't feel bad now! When Scott came back to the hospital, he was not very happy when I showed him the form. For the first few months Scott always called James "son". I'm not sure if Scott has recovered, but at least he calls him James now!

Curtis Steven Cuillard. After the drama with our firstborn's name, Scott thought he had full naming rights for our second child. He was very insistant on this. I acted like he was in charge and asked what the name would be....when he said Curtis Steven, I was pleased. I didn't let Scott know how pleased I was, because then he might change it....that's how Scott can be. I love Curtis's name. I will be honest though, I really, really wanted his name to be spelled with a K, but Scott was a butthead again, and put his foot down. Steven is my father's name and Scott's oldest brother's name, and we both agreed on it. So there you go, Curtis Steven Cuillard it is!

George Marcus Cuillard. His name is fantastic, and I can't imagine him with any other name. Before we were even expecting George, Scott gave me a very sweet Christmas present. It was a poem. In the poem it stated that our next child can be given a name of my choosing, without any grief or complaining from Scott. Hey, I took it and ran with it! I love, love, love the movie "It's A Wonderful Life". There is a scene where George Bailey kissed Mary for the first time. Right before their dramatic kiss she says, "George, George, George" My favorite! So, that is how I got the name George. Let me tell you how rude people are.....I especially remember Scott's brothers being the worst. Giving me their opinions on how they didn't like that name......made me love it more.....I'm awnry like that. Nobody's negative opinion was going to sway me....I loved it then and love it even more now! George was born November 1st, so I was pretty pregnant during summer. My sister and I were at the beach, and there was a really good looking guy - probably in his early 20s. He was in the water, and we heard his sister call him George. My sister actually asked him how he liked his name. He told her he absolutely loved it, and was never upset that was his name. For some reason, I knew my George was going to be a good looking guy, and who doesn't love a good looking George? So, the middle name. I really took it as far as I could and went with Marcus....my brother's name and my father's middle name. I love both of them, love the name, and there you have it. George Marcus!

Charles Emmett Cuillard. I don't have an amazing story.....I just love the name Charlie. I knew a man who was a tall, dark haired Charlie. He was impressive, and his name just fit him. George was such a toehead, I was sure I would have a blonde Charlie. Well, we all know how that turned out, and I have my handsome, tall, dark haired, brown eyed Charlie. Emmett kind of came out of nowhere. We knew we were naming him Charlie, but not sure about a middle name. While in the hospital, I was up all night and early morning. The newscaster that was on in the early hours was named Emmett. That's where it came from, but I think Charles Emmett Cuillard is a strong name, and I am sure we made the right decision.

Karl Conrad Cuillard. I was so depressed after my first ultrasound with KC. With all of the other children I already had a girl name and a boy name when we found out the sex. For some reason, I did not have a boy name for KC. I wasn't disappointed I was having a 5th boy, I was devastated because I didn't have a name for him. I felt like I was already letting him down! I prayed and prayed to find a name for this little boy. I felt inspired to look through family books and maybe find a family name. Donna had given us some books from Scott's family, so I started with those. I was even more discouraged after I went through those and got nothing. I found a book based on the life of my Great Great Grandfather Schaub. He was a prominent architect in the Logan and Salt Lake City area. He was a Bishop for over 16 years. He designed the doors for the Salt Lake City Temple, and worked closely with President Wilford Woodruff. As I read about my grandfather's life, I really felt the Spirit strongly and knew I wanted to name this little baby after him. In his Patriarchal Blessing it reads "And thy name shall be handed down by thy posterity in honorable rememberance, and in company with thy companion those shalt receive thine inheritance among those who have fought the good fight, kept the faith and won the prize." After reading that I knew for sure.....my only obstacle....Scott. He had told me long ago that he hated the name Karl. I prayed for Scott's heart to be softened and that he wouldn't make this a battle. When Scott came home, I had him read about this man, and told him I felt very strongly about naming our baby after him. Scott's reply blew me away "I like it, I think we should name him that too" We agree he would go by KC....as my grandfather did. I also love that those are my initials. Anyways, this is how all of the Cuillard's received their names.